


Three Nice Things

by Puffinpastry



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Body Worship, Depression, Hero | Luminary is Named Eleven | El (Dragon Quest XI), M/M, Masturbation, Multiple Orgasms, Praise Kink, Shower Sex, body image issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:55:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puffinpastry/pseuds/Puffinpastry
Summary: “Okay,” El nodded, “On one condition.”Condition? “What-” Erik was cut off before he could even ask.“Three things you love about yourself.” El decided, “That’s what I need to hear.” He added on, backing Erik into the corner wall, away from the spray of water, and with only the thinnest steam laying on the ground, the sudden cold made Erik shiver.Just the cold.Nothing else.
Relationships: Camus | Erik/Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 93





	Three Nice Things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NedrynWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NedrynWrites/gifts).



> For the prompts admiration/shower.

Some days were good.

Some days, they didn’t have to worry about finding a campsite, or getting a fire going when all the kindling had been soaked by rain or snow. 

Some days, they stumbled upon a village. Some days, that village had a nice inn where they could get some proper rest.

And one some really rare, really special days, their inn room even had a private bath.

“I’m sorry.” Eleven said, his hands running up along a nasty cut along Erik’s back, the healing spell closing it messily.

There’d be a scar, but what was one more? He was still alive, and that’s what mattered, right?

“I’m not as good at this as Serena is.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” Erik grunted. Healing always felt a little weird. Not painful, exactly, but there still wasn’t any part of skin stitching itself closed that felt  _ right _ . 

The glow of the spell faded, and Eleven ran the washcloth against his skin once more, trying to clear the rest of the mess. 

It was a nasty fight, but most were, these days. 

They lived to fight another day, and that’s the best they could offer. 

The bloodied towel came to rest on the floor next to them, and Erik fought away a grimace. They’d definitely be charged extra to fix  _ that _ , but really this was the innkeeper's fault for keeping  _ white  _ towels!

“...C’mere.” Eleven’s voice was soft as he pulled Erik flush against him, arms holding around Erik’s chest, and his chin tucked over his shoulder. 

Erik didn’t know why Eleven wanted to hold him now. They were both still splattered with blood and streaked with mud from the sudden squall, and there was a perfectly good shower just behind them.

But Erik wasn’t about to complain. 

He sagged into Eleven’s arms, eyes closed. 

The tiled floor below them was cold, but it hardly mattered. They could be sitting in a snowbank for all he cared. 

Just a few minutes of calm and quiet. Just long enough so that they could begin to forget the day’s struggles. 

But they could only stay like that for so long.

It was already getting late, and neither one of them wanted to have to crawl into bed still covered in filth. 

The water started and heated in the blink of an eye, almost scaldingly hot after the cooler air around them. 

Even though they are in no rush, they don’t waste a second more than necessary actually  _ getting  _ clean, preferring to waste away their evening in a different way.

Just another benefit to splitting up every now and then. No one else to share an inn room with, no one else waiting their turn for the baths.

They hardly ever have the ability to just enjoy each other whenever they wish. Spending their nights under the stars in the company of six other people hardly offers them any sort of privacy, and sneaking off is hardly an option with the sheer number of monsters around.

But they’re alone now, and they should have a few days before the others arrive back. 

It would seem as though they were assigned the easy task this time around, and there was no reason not to take advantage of that. 

The day’s battles washed away, Erik found himself pulled flush against El’s chest, neither yet quite willing to leave the steam and spray of hot water.

Erik turns his head, trying to give Eleven a better angle, but with the movement, the fresh scar on his back presses too hard against the body behind him, and Erik can’t help but break away with a small sound he could not suppress. 

It doesn’t even hurt  _ all _ that badly. More of a surprise than anything else. Now that he knew to expect it, Erik tried to start back where he’d left off, but Eleven was in no such hurry. 

“I’m sorry,” he quickly says, moving away from Erik, and trying to get him to turn and face Eleven. Damn it, this was always so much easier when Eleven was behind him, or when Erik was on his stomach or knees. Whenever he wasn’t face-to-face with him. “Is it still hurting that badly? If there’s something I can do-”

“Just don’t touch the bruised bits and it’ll be fine.” Erik said, not quite meeting Eleven’s eyes.

Erik had thought that would be funny, but it was clear the moment he’d said it that Eleven wouldn’t agree. 

He’d laughed at Erik’s similar jokes in the beginning, but as time passed he seemed to grow only more uncomfortable with them. 

“If you’re hurting then we don’t need to do this at all. I could try another spell, if you want. Or we could just go to sleep.”

“I’m fine,” Erik insists, pushing up on his toes to wrap his arms around Eleven’s shoulders, “What I  _ want  _ is your hands on me again.”

He’d thought that would grab Eleven’s attention. He’d thought that saying that would have been enough to distract him from his concerns, but all he did was make them worse. 

With the newer scar hidden, Eleven had all the better view of a much older one.

A much more  _ noticeable  _ one. 

“I’m sorry.” Eleven says again, chock full of original ideas tonight, running a hand over the spiral-shaped scar over Erik’s heart. “I’m sorry I can’t fix all these.”

The touch is almost muted. That scar didn’t hurt, all the nerves as good as dead. 

It shouldn’t bother Erik as much as it does. He has other scars, ones he got in worse times, from monsters that Eleven hadn’t been around to save him from.

But it was this scar that kept him up at night. It was this scar he went to lengths to hide.

It was this scar that he didn’t want Eleven to have to see. 

“Doesn’t really matter.” Erik said, trying for casual. If he said it like a joke, surely it would go away. “I’m just a thief, remember? Not worth coming back for.” Wasn’t that what Jasper had said? He couldn’t really remember, anymore. But he could feel how hollow the grin on his face was. Knew that it would be plainly visible, too.

Joking or not, it didn’t matter. 

Eleven looked furious.

Erik’s arms are pulled from around Eleven’s shoulders, and instead his wrists are being held tight in his grip, pulled close to Eleven’s chest. “Don’t joke like that!” He’s very nearly yelling, and Erik’s heart sinks at the tone. He knows Eleven isn’t angry with him, not really, but it still feels terrible to be any part of the reason he’s upset. “Don’t  _ ever  _ joke like that! It’s not funny, it’s  _ never  _ been funny!”

Eleven’s eyes are searching him, as if he’s looking for something. Some sign that Erik doesn’t know how to give.

“I…” he starts, completely unaware of how to move forward, how to make everything okay. “I don’t really mean-”

“I don’t think you are joking. You really think that, don’t you?” He asks, and before Erik can even begin to backpedal, he’s speaking again. The damage had been done, and all Erik can do is ride it out. “Why do you always say things like that?” His voice is softer, now. He lets go of Erik’s wrists, and Erik just lets his arms fall to his sides. He’s staring at the ground, unsure of what to do, what to say. “Why do you think so little of yourself? You throw yourself into danger for my sake, for  _ anyone  _ else’s sake, but you act as if no one else would ever do the same for you.” 

“Why should they?” Erik asks, so softly he can’t be sure if he actually wanted to be heard or not. “I’ve been nothing but a burden since Veronica and Serena joined up. I’ve worn out my stay.” Erik doesn’t know where the words come from. Doesn’t know why he’s confessing to this at all, or even how to stop. “I don’t know why you keep me around anymore. All I do is get in the way. You could have ditched me, anytime. You’ve got everyone else, you could  _ have  _ anyone you wanted! But you still-“

“Stop.” 

Eleven’s voice is flat. Devoid of any emotion, without any inflection. 

It stops Erik in his tracks.

“I don’t know where you got any of those ideas.” He says, “There isn’t one person we know who wouldn’t do anything in their power to help you. You say you’re a burden as if it wasn’t you that got back two of the orbs, that’s saved my life more times than I could ever pay back.”

Erik dares to look up, just in time to be enclosed in Eleven’s arms again, held so tight he could almost forget the reason why. 

“I’m never leaving you behind.” Eleven swears, “Not for anything. I started this journey with you, and I’m not going a step further without you.”

It isn’t that Erik doesn’t believe him. He knows that Eleven wouldn’t lie, but… It’s that he knows that that could change. Knows that he could do something, say something so horrible… He wouldn’t ever mean to, but he’s afraid that he will, somehow. 

Erik’s arms close around Eleven’s back. “...I’m sorry,” he says, finally. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s alright.” Eleven answers, his fingers combing through the shorter hair at the nape of Erik’s neck. “Let’s just go to-“

“No,” Erik says before Eleven can finish his sentence. He doesn’t want to go to sleep, he doesn’t want more healing. He pulls back just enough to finally look Eleven in the eye. “I still-“ Gods, it was still so hard to ask out loud. “I still want you.” Erik had already wasted enough of their time. He didn’t want to lose a second more on things that didn’t matter.

“Are you sure? You don’t ever have-“

“I am.” Erik said, feeling his face color even before any request was made. “Please?”

“Okay,” El nodded, “On one condition.”

_ Condition?  _ “What-” Erik was cut off before he could even ask.

“Three things you love about yourself.” El decided, “That’s what I need to hear.” He added on, backing Erik into the corner wall, away from the spray of water, and with only the thinnest steam laying on the ground, the sudden cold made Erik shiver. 

Just the cold.

Nothing else.

“That can’t be too hard, can it?” Eleven asked, “I could, if you want.” Not waiting for permission, he began his own list. “I love how kind you are, even if you try to hide it. How you’d do anything for the people you love.” Trapped against the wall, Erik couldn’t do anything about the hands on his sides, or the breath ghosting over his ear. “I love your laugh. Not the one that you use when you’re trying to be nice, but your real one, when you just can’t stop laughing.” Eleven pauses for only a moment, letting go of Erik’s waist with one hand just to move it lower, “And...” he begins again, wrapping his palm around Erik’s half-hard dick.

Erik can’t help but to gasp out at the sudden sensation, and at what El says. “...I love how your cock fits in my fist.”

Somewhere between his malfunctioning mind and the skin pressing against his own, Erik balks at the idea of saying  _ anything  _ like that.

“I can’t…” Erik trailed off, a strange sense of  _ shame  _ as he couldn’t even manage to admit he couldn’t say anything like that about  _ himself.  _

It was too much. 

“I can’t say that.”

“Just try.” 

“I-” Erik again cut off as El’s hand stopped moving. God _ damnit!  _ Erik wasn’t in the mood for stupid games.

“If you want to stop, just say so.” El began to move away, “All you have to do is say the word, and we can go to sleep.”

Erik nearly relents. Nearly gives up and agrees, but-

_ Gods. _

“Here,” El says, “Why don’t we try something else?”

“Please.” Erik feels no shame in begging as El slowly drops to his knees. Finally. Took long enough for him to-

“Touch yourself for me.” El instructs, hands running along the muscle of Erik’s thighs. One way or another, he was going to get Erik to show himself some love. 

“What-” 

El pulled the shower curtain aside, and leaned out to pluck a small vial from their discarded clothes and bags. 

“You heard what I said,” El uncorked the bottle, but didn’t pour any of the contents out. “Touch yourself.”

“El-“

“If you don’t want to, then you don’t have to.” El said, so close to Erik, but not touching. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. But,” He added on, “I’d  _ very much  _ like to watch.”

Erik- Erik could do that. 

It wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind for the short amount of time they’d have together, but it was still a  _ much  _ better idea than El’s initial one. 

Much easier to do. Taking himself in one hand, and letting El pour the oil over his fingers, Erik decided  _ this  _ he could handle. 

Or at least, he had thought.

He’d thought that at some point, El would take over. He’d take charge, and Erik wouldn’t have to worry about self-esteem or  _ any  _ of the things El had been going on about if he was being fucked into next week, but-

He hadn’t done anything.

“El,  _ please-“  _ Erik wasn’t above begging at this point. Two fingers buried inside himself and fucking into his own fist, standing upright only by the wall at his back and El’s arms around his legs, mouth sucking a mark into his inner thigh.  _ “Please-” _

His teeth grazed over the new bruise, and the fresh sting had Erik whining. 

“Love the way your voice sounds like this.” El said as the echo faded. Eyes slowly dragging up Erik’s body, until they met with Erik’s. “Love the way you look like this.” 

On and on, different little things he said on loop, picking up another with every mark he left along Erik’s thighs.

“So beautiful.” One last time before his teeth sunk into Erik’s skin, the jolt of pain enough to send Erik over the edge, coming into his own hand with a shout. 

The first thing Erik noticed when he came back to himself was the stinging all over his legs. The second was that he was no longer standing, but on the shower floor, in El’s lap, fingers combing through his wet hair.

The  _ third  _ thing he noticed was still hard, and pressing into his leg.

The entire time, El hadn’t even once touched himself. 

“El..” Erik’s limbs all felt limp, not unlike the way the tockles looked, if El’s crude drawings were anyway accurate, but he still brought his arms up to hook around El’s shoulders. “You’re not finished, are you?” 

For the first time tonight, he looked disconcerted. “I mean- I guess?” A far cry different than how he had just been behaving. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll just-”

“Because I’m not.” Erik said, moving to straddle El’s legs. “You think I’m going to be satisfied with just my hand when  _ this,”  _ he ground against him, earning a half-suppressed groan, “Is right here?”

El looked back at him. “You don’t have-”

“-To do anything I don’t want to.” Erik finished for him, “I know. You might have mentioned that already. But, I know what I want to do, and what I want is for you to get off your ass and  _ fuck me.”  _

Clearly, that is what Erik should have said from the beginning.

“Love how easy it is to do this,” El said, hooking his arms under Erik’s thighs to hold him up against the wall. “How well you fit in my arms.”

One hand gripped tight into El’s hair, and the nails of the other digging into El’s shoulder, Erik was almost too far gone to really hear him. Every last movement of El inside him sending rippling shockwaves of oversensitivity up his spine, sending him hurtling far too quickly to a second orgasm. 

~~

Later enough that Erik didn’t want to think about what time it was, and what time they’d need to be waking up, showered a second time but  _ finally  _ curled into bed, wrapped tight in El’s arms and already aching pleasurably, he could feel the high wearing down.

It was nice, really, to hear everything that El had to say about him, but now in the quiet, it all began to sound like a lie. 

Erik wasn’t beautiful.

He was short and scrawny, covered in scars. There wasn’t anything about him  _ to  _ like, and yet El still stayed with him.

Still held him.

“Stop.” El’s voice came slow, edging towards sleep.

“Stop what?” 

“I can hear your brooding from here.” El said, “Stop it. I still don’t get why you don’t think you’re worth loving.” Ever so gently, El held him closer, and buried his nose into his still-damp hair. “But I don’t need to know. I love you, and I love everything about you, and I’ll say that as many times as I need to for you to believe it.”

Suddenly, Erik felt as though there was something caught in his throat. “You’ll be saying it for a while, then.”

“I plan to stay for a while.” El countered, “For as long as you plan to let me.”

It wasn’t much. 

But for Erik-

That single sentence meant the world.


End file.
